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Lee Iacocca, the auto-industry titan who helped develop the Ford Mustang and who saved Chrysler from financial ruin, died early Tuesday at his California home. He was 94.
The cause of death was complications of Parkinson’s disease, according to The Washington Post.
Born in Allentown, Pa., to Italian-immigrant parents, Iacocca began his career at Ford as a 22-year-old in 1946, and eventually rose to president in 1970.
His most notable feat at the auto giant was spearheading the successful release of the Ford Mustang, one of the company’s most instantly recognizable models.
After being abruptly fired in 1978 by Henry Ford Jr., Iacocca joined rival Chrysler, where he rescued the company from bankruptcy in the early 1980s, after he convinced Congress in 1979 to approve a $1.5 billion bailout package.
During his time as Chrysler’s chief executive officer, he sought to burnish the tarnished automaker’s image, appearing in a series of brutally honest commercials that admitted the company’s past struggles — but promised future success.
In one 1984 commercial, Iacocca said Chrysler had been “kicked in the head,” referring to the company’s near financial collapse.
At the end of the same spot, Iacocca struck a different tone, declaring: “I have one and only one ambition for Chrysler. To be the best. What else is there?”
Part of Chrysler’s new direction under Iacocca was a focus on the vehicles that would replace the family station wagon: the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan minivans.
Iacocca also oversaw the 1982 release of the Chrysler LeBaron, whose convertible edition excelled at a time when others slumped.
He retired from Chrysler in 1992.
Iacocca never forgot his humble roots as the son of immigrants.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed him chairman of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which raised hundreds of millions of dollars to restore the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
With Post wires
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